FIGHTING has intensified in the West Bank in what appears to be a major Israeli offensive in the region and the first time in nearly 20 years several Palestinian cities have been targeted simultaneously.
At least nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the northern part of the illegally-occupied territory since midnight local time, the BBC reports.
The true figure could be higher, with Palestinian health officials previously reporting that 11 people had been killed in the incursion.
Israeli forces claimed they were carrying out a “counterterrorism operation” in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm.
The BBC reported that it appeared to be a major operation, with at least four cities in the West Bank being targeted at the same time – Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Tubas.
This is believed to be the first time since the second intifada – a major uprising in Palestine against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza between 2000 and 2005 – that several Palestinian cities have been targeted in this way.
The BBC cited local news reports that roads into Jenin had been closed off amid fighting in the city’s refugee camp while an Israeli airstrike was said to have targeted a vehicle in a nearby village early in the morning.
Israeli forces are also said to have raided a hospital in Jenin and blocked off another two in Tulkarm while two refugee camps are being raided in Nablus. Ambulances are also said to be struggling to reach injured people after an Israeli drone strike.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have been "operating with full force since last night in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps to dismantle Iranian-Islamic terror infrastructures established there”, the BBC reported.
He accused Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – which are backed by Iran – of seeking to open a new front in the West Bank, which is occupied illegally by Israel.
